Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic and other applications. Semiconductor devices comprise, among other things, integrated circuits or discrete devices that are formed on semiconductor wafers by depositing one or more types of thin films of material over the semiconductor wafers, and patterning the thin films of material to form the integrated circuits. Thus large number of device regions may be formed within each integrated circuit.
Silicon on nothing (SON) is an emerging technology that may have many applications. In silicon on nothing (SON), regions of silicon are isolated from other regions by a void or an air gap. However, larger voids may not be stable and may be susceptible to deformation during product lifetime or during subsequent fabrication, packaging, and/or testing processes. Any uncoordinated change in the configuration of these voids may result in degraded reliability due to product failure and/or device drift. The ability to form stable voids may enable the creation of many different types of devices including stress enhanced CMOS devices and micro-electro-mechanical system devices.